The Reading Life
Kelly Barnhill has a beautiful post about the books that have been the “architects of her imagination.”
Dylan Teut describes what happens when kids really REALLY love a book: they hide it!
Kevin English’s students share an important point about diversity in books: they can’t all be about oppression, racism, and tragedy. My children deserve to see African-Americans in books outside of the month of February for Black History Month and outside the context of slavery and Civil Rights!
Life in School
Mindshift asks, Can Any School Foster Pure Creativity?
Elizabeth Weil argues that American Schools Are Failing Nonconformist Kids. (Those are the ones who don’t want to sit down for 8 hours a day, right?)
For students who can’t sit for 8 hours a day, what about standing desks? There’s research and everything!
Kay Bisaillon has several good ideas for Maintaining Your Sanity in the Pressure Game of Teaching.
Children’s Literature
Sam Bloom’s analysis of Christopher Myers’s illustrations for Misty Copeland’s Firebird helped me understand why this book is getting Caldecott buzz.
Author-illustrator Brian Pinkney describes his goal as a maker of picture books: to move children of color from asking “Where am I?” to realizing “Here I am!”
Fascinating look at Philip Stead’s artistic process for his new book, Sebastian and the Balloon.
November Challenges
November is Picture Book Month!
November is also Nonfiction Reading Month. Kim at Sophisticated Dorkiness has some ideas for reading women nonfiction writers during November. Or consider joining Kim and several other bloggers for a readalong.
Random Stuff
There are some incredible photographs in this article about the 2014 Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award.
Did you know that October is Pit Bull Awareness Month? Of course, in my house, every day is pit bull awareness day! Buzzfeed has 15 pit bull Facebook pages you should Like.
Want to be 10% happier? Dan Harris suggests meditation.
the dirigible plum 
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